The real test starts NOW!

A real test at the Britannia
Newcastle have faced several tests this season. To me every game has been a test although to some it’s only been the games against the likes of Tottenham that have had the word ‘test’ bestowed upon them.

On the whole we’ve come through each test although we slipped on Wednesday night resulting in us bowing out of the Carling Cup after a 4-3 extra time defeat to Blackburn Rovers. We probably deserved to go out if you look at the game objectively. We played poor in the first half, conceded four goals and rarely threatened their goal, but the spirit shown to get two goals back in stoppage time, and than another in extra time, was a joy to behold and is something that is becoming a characteristic of this NUFC team.

However losing in such circumstances is bound to have an effect. After coming from behind when it looked impossible to do so only to be denied by a last minute injury time goal will have an effect. It’s what type of effect it has that will be the important factor in how, or if, we bounce back against Stoke.

This is the true test we’ve been waiting for in my opinion. It’s not a test of skill or talent as I already know we have players who possess that. Instead it’s a test of character as it gives us our first chance to see how this new squad can bounce back from a defeat.

This is new territory for this team. It’s been a good start for them but now they need to build again ahead of what is a very tough run of fixtures. Stoke won’t be easy and neither will Everton, and of course we all know what the likes of Manchester City, Manchester United and Chelsea are capable of. However, one step at a time, it’s Stoke up next.

Obviously I’m just guessing as, like I said earlier, this is uncharted territory for this new team. The team spirit and fight has been there whilst we’ve been winning as, lets face it, it’s easy to step up a gear when things are going your way. What about now though?

Personally I think we’ll be fine. I’ve said all along that the fact that we’ve been getting decent results will help the team settle. For instance imagine we’d gone on a bad run or started off poorly. Do you think the new boys would have settled so quickly into that kind of environment?

The fact that we’ve been gaining points should help us when we try to recover from a defeat if that makes sense? It might not be enough to avoid defeat, but it should ensure that the players go all out to try and avoid it. Whether that will be enough is something we’ll find out about on Monday evening.

A lot of people have said that they would like to see how this team reacts to a defeat. In a sense it’s probably the biggest test of the 12 or so tests that we’ve already had this season.

Will they pass or will they fail though? My money is on the former, even if we don’t get a result.

About toonsy

A lifelong Newcastle fan and current webmaster of this very 'blog who has the sole aim of creating a place by Newcastle United fans, for Newcastle United fans.

36 thoughts on “The real test starts NOW!

  1. Agreed.

    How often do you see a team that has been on a great unbeaten run lose their first game then lose another straight after? Often happens and I fear it could well happen with us.

    Would take a draw now.

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  2. I think we’ll bounce back (famous last words?) :mrgreen:

    The lads would have been braced for there 1st defeat and would have always been thinking of a ‘worst case scenario’ – we won’t crumble.

    we’re nails.

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  3. Stoke won’t be easy and neither will Everton, and of course we all know what the likes of Manchester City, Manchester United and Chelsea are capable of. However, one step at a time, it’s Stoke up next.
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    This is why getting 19 points form 9 was so important. Even if we fail to get much in this stretch, we’d still be middle of the pack with some easier matches to look forward too

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  4. I’d be happy with a 0-0! Bit sad but Stoke are a real challenge for anything but football reasons. If Tiote’s fit we’ll get something.

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  5. I can’t see us being 4th (realistically) in a couple more weeks, with no Tiote we just look like conceding goals ATM.

    I just hope the fans keep supporting the boys and remember we’ve still been excellent all season, no defeat since May. I heard something on the Legends the other night where a Dirty Mackem phoned in to gloat about us going out in the Cup but they also said any other S’land fan would give their right arm to be in our shoes!

    He’s not wrong there like Cabaye 4.5M —– Gardner 6M and all the rest of the ***** they have that wouldn’t get in our team!

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  6. My team for Monday

    krul
    simpson colo taylor taylor
    obertan cabaye gosling gutierrez
    ba ben arfa

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  7. I wanted to put Leon Best in but him and us as a club are heading in two different directions! He was dogger against Wigan and Tottenham.

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  8. Agree with everyone else that the Blackburn defeat along with Tiote missing is a recipe for disaster with the games V the big boys looming!

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  9. Looks like Guthrie is the preferred replacement for tiote.

    I’m looking ahead to the norwich game. If it was last week we would be expecting a win or draw there, but with it following on from the games listed above I wonder what our confidence is going to be like. That will be yet another test

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  10. Think we should have played Best against Blackburn – in the league game it was his running that kept pulling Samba out of position and therefore left gaps for others to play into – HBA needs more match time to get up to speed in my opinion I don’t think we’ll see the best of him until second half of season

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  11. Waitin’ on the morra with baited breath like. This is a huge game and Stoke is just one of those teams that seem to have always had our number. I wouldn’t say this is as much of a banana peel as it is more like a heavyweight title fight lol.

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  12. Haven’t been on to read the match reviews. Was there anybody at Bburn that commented on how Guthrie played (other than the goal obviously)?

    I think we’ll see us revert 4-4-2.

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  13. MDS-

    I heard that Guthrie was a little quiet. Lucky to score, but didn’t boss the midfield like that certain indomitable Ivorian…

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  14. Dubtoon- no. I got pissed and turned the tv when we were down 5-2 and missed the fireworks thereafter. Our defense is a joke atm 🙁

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  15. LOL. I watch them all anyway. they are local for me so all the games are televised – can’t help myself 😉

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  16. Johno – the sexual assault is just scum, being charged for urination at the same time is hilarious 😆 you’d think they’d forget about it with the more serious charges. Don’t know how we were a CL team with his mistakes every week. **** talented but could never get the consistency

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  17. my predictions for next 5 games

    31st oct
    stoke 2 newcastle 1

    5th nov
    newcastle 2 everton 0

    19th nov
    man city 3 newcastle 1

    26th nov
    man utd 2 newcastle 0

    3rd dec
    newcastle 1 chelsea 1

    i think we will only get 1 win!! really hard games!! if we pick up 2 wins out of the 5 then i will be really pleased!! just cant see us beating city and utd away but the everton game is defo winnable!! after the chelsea match i hope we are around 6th place

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  18. Every single game has been a test. Even the mighty chelski lost to qpr, and arsenal lost to blackburn 4-3 as well so let’s not buy into the media bs that we’ve had an easy run.

    As long as we play well on Monday I don’t see why we can’t win it. Just because we lost with a weakened team in the cup means nowt. Our first team is still a force to be reckoned with.

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  19. I say we can get at least six points from the next five. Why fear the manchester teams when they’ve dropped points against weaker teams than us this season.

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  20. Georgio – Sorry about your comments disappearing. They got munched by the spam filter. I’ve fished them out now ad hopefully it doesn’t happen again 🙂

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  21. These injuries to Saylor and Tiote have finally exposed our lack of any bench quality that everyone has been worried about. No CB cover available (because we never replaced Campbell and Willo injured) and no DM cover to speak of. We have a bucket full of mid fielders but none of them are the attack destroyer type other than Tiote. What was Llambias thinking about in the summer? How to get the boss to let him run naked across St. James Park again? Truly Llambias is a waste of space. If we somehow got rid of him I think the future could be truly bright. Why doesn’t Ashley wake up and smell the coffee? Sack Llambias and bring in a true football man.

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  22. If someone offered me 4 points from the next five games I’d take it. Definitely. That would give us 23 points with some very winnable games before xmas.

    If we get to 30 points by the halfway stage it will be incredible. And i think it is very doable.

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  23. i think we will bounce back and i seriously think,we will surprise a few people in the next five games,a lot of teams go into games against the top 3 looking for damage limitation,but our players are made of sterner stuff this season,whatever happens every team that plays us this season will know theyve been in a game,havent been able to say that in a long time,

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  24. 31st oct
    stoke 2 newcastle 0

    5th nov
    newcastle 0 everton 1

    19th nov
    man city 2 newcastle 0

    26th nov
    man utd 3 newcastle 1

    3rd dec
    newcastle 1 chelsea 2

    Not looking good….

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